Gaining more insight into the lived experiences of the students is important to grasp the complexity of the process of motivational development. (2018) also uses qualitative research, but this study is limited to one aspect of the AOM, namely environmental perceptions. However, retrospective studies have their pitfalls, as students may not accurately recall past events ( Beckett et al., 2001). There is one retrospective qualitative study on the AOM ( Siegle et al., 2014), in which former students looked back on their high school experiences. Qualitative research enables delving deeper into students’ perceptions of this complex process. Most research regarding the AOM has used a quantitative approach, and as a consequence little is known about how students perceive the interplay of these factors, or how these factors interact and depend on each other in specific educational contexts. Although research on the AOM has revealed the importance of interactions with teachers ( Siegle et al., 2014), and parental involvement ( Rubenstein et al., 2012 Brigandi et al., 2018) and the benefits of homogeneous grouping with like-minded peers ( Brigandi et al., 2018), some gaps can be pointed out in the existing literature concerning the AOM. The AOM points at a number of factors related to motivation, task engagement and achievement, namely self-efficacy, goal valuation, environmental perceptions, and self-regulation. This model is grounded in previous research on motivation and intellectual giftedness and shows the different factors that determine whether cognitively gifted students (under)achieve. Siegle and McCoach (2005) developed the Achievement Orientation Model (AOM). Lack of motivation is seen as a possible explanation for underachievement among cognitively gifted students ( Whitmore, 1986 Rea, 2000 Cakir, 2014 White et al., 2018). With the rise of research on giftedness, the problem of underperforming gifted students in education was also raised ( Dowdall and Colangelo, 1982). Since the 19th century, attention has been paid to cognitive talent in the scientific literature ( Gagne, 1985 Cravens, 1992). The findings underline the value of the AOM and stress the importance of taking learner perceptions into account. By capturing the lived experiences of six intellectually gifted students in this study, we were able to get more insight into the complex processes that relate to students’ (dis)engagement and (under)achievement in school. Six gifted students, three well-performing and three underperforming, from two different high schools participated in in-depth interviews. Because the transition from elementary to secondary education is a crucial phase for intellectually gifted students, we selected students from the 7th and 8th grade, using purposive sampling. To study the dynamics of the different components in the AOM, we further examined the inhibiting and facilitating factors associated with academic achievement as experienced by well-performing and underperforming gifted students. In the last decade, the Achievement Orientation Model (AOM) of Siegle and McCoach has often been used to quantitatively explore different pathways for academic achievement among intellectually gifted students in educational settings, mostly in secondary education. 2Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, School Psychology and Development in Context, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.1Department of Training and Education Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.Katelijne Barbier 1* Vincent Donche 1 Karine Verschueren 2

Academically gifted meaning